Performance characteristics of radio frequency (RF) receivers are typically well defined and well specified for situations where there is no interference. Receiver performance in the presence of interference, on the other hand, is not typically specified or well quantified. Scenarios where multiple radios operate concurrently on a common platform are increasing in both military and civilian environments. For this reason, performance degradation within radio receivers caused by transmissions from nearby transmitters may become more of a problem.
Historically, the negative effects on receiver performance caused by transmissions from nearby transmitters have been tested in a lab or other controlled environment. However, this approach required a radio receiver to be built, an elaborate test set up to be assembled, and a laborious test process to be undertaken. If the measurement results displayed poor receiver performance in the presence of certain types of interference, then expensive redesign efforts would often be performed to make the receiver performance less sensitive to these types of interference. There is a need for techniques that allow receiver performance in the presence of interference to be predicted and analyzed at the design stage before a receiver is built.